


Hazy Shades of Winter

by Major



Series: The Way Home [4]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Healing, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 12:59:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9236207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Major/pseuds/Major
Summary: Five moments during the weeks of Eric's recovery as seen by Aaron.





	

The first day the orders for Eric to be on bed rest were lifted, Aaron lost him after breakfast and found him baking in the kitchen later in the afternoon with Gregory listening to him intently as he sampled the cookies he made from scratch like he was trying to memorize the recipe to prevent a natural disaster.

"New friend?" he asked as he went up to the counter where Eric was sitting, injured leg hanging purposefully with his weight off of it after Gregory placed an order for another batch and left.

"I wanted to feel him out. It's nice here. With our house burned down, it wouldn't be a bad place to shop for real estate."

Surprise jolted through him. He took it for granted that they would head back to Alexandria as soon as he was healed enough to travel. "You want to move here?"

Eric shook his head, feeding a piece of cookie to him that made Aaron's eyebrows go up. He forgot how good Eric was with an oven; made sense he would weaponize that talent as an interrogation tool through Gregory's stomach.

"I don't think it would be safe until Maggie officially takes over the leadership role here." According to Sasha, that rearrangement of power was on the horizon. "Gregory is no Rick. And right now..."

"We need a Rick," Aaron concluded.

Eric nodded and stretched his arms out over Aaron's shoulders, sticking the rest of the cookie in his mouth and taking a bite off the other end. He smelled like cinnamon and sugar. The sweet smell and playful smile on his face made him realize he wouldn't mind if Eric did want to leave Alexandria. As long as they started over together, he was good.

****

Eric got caught out in a storm while he was out exploring The Hilltop. Aaron spotted him coming back to the house under a bleak sky and pouring rain and went from frowning to rushing to him off the porch when his crutches went out from under him, but he was laughing when he reached him. He could mostly walk on his own. His calf just needed more time before it could support him completely, and his slippery fall had him in stitches in the grass.

"This is funny, is it?" Aaron asked, and Eric nodded as he got him to his feet and helped him up the steps.

He wasn't interested in going inside, though, apparently, because he dropped his crutches and lowered himself to the porch floor, lying out as he caught his breath from trying to beat the rain and failing so dramatically. Aaron laid out beside him.

"Did you hurt your leg?"

"A pipe hurt my leg when it went through it. It's fine now." He reached over and squeezed his arm. "I'm fine now."

He nodded but wasn't sure about that. He was keeping a close eye on his movement and muscle strain.

"I love that sound," Eric murmured.

"Yeah."

Rain pounded over the roof and drowned out the rest of the day, beating down over The Hilltop and chasing the sun from view behind thick black and grey clouds. The steady rhythm was soothing and lulled him into a sense of calm that he welcomed despite its falsehood.

"You worry too much," Eric whispered under the drum of it.

Maybe, but, "You don't worry enough."

Eric turned his head to rest it on Aaron's shoulder, and they went quiet, listening to the rain and the silence beneath it.

****

Charitable members of the community donated a box of clothes to them, and Gregory gave them thick coats. Eric's corduroy jacket had warmer lining since Gregory was partial to Eric (or Eric's baking), but Aaron was fine with that being the case anyway. He still had his blue jacket since they left Alexandria with the clothes on their backs and nothing else.

There were a lot of people milling around outside, gathering crates of supplies and putting them into a truck for Negan's next delivery. Aaron tried to maneuver him into a supervisory role, but Eric was stubbornly chatting with the women with the vegetable baskets and helping them carry their contributions back and forth to the truck.

Aaron took the baskets from him and did the lugging himself when his own hands weren't full, but Eric's limp was hardly noticeable now. He wasn't poorly disguising winces behind smiles while he walked anymore either. He took a break from loading the truck and playing interception with Eric's own loading and watched him walk from where he leaned against one of the porch pillars.

The mood was gloomy as people gathered what they worked for to give it away, but Aaron was distracted from the melancholy of it as he watched each of Eric's steps. He was getting stronger every day.

Maggie approached him, wiping her hands off on her jeans and followed his eyes to where Eric was walking and talking with a load of carrots. "He looks good. Better. Walking on his own."

"He could have died in that basement." In his dreams, sometimes he did. He woke up reaching for him, confirming reality, denying what-ifs.

"We all have a basement we could have died in," Maggie replied.

Aaron met her eyes, thought of Glenn, remembered: being beaten, watching Negan's bat point at him as he walked down the line of them in the woods, fighting off the roamers in the back of the trailer Negan drove them home in. Most of them, the world how it was, had many basements.

It made him even more grateful as he watched Eric turn around and walk back the way he came, all on his own.

****

Aaron looked up from the book he was reading on the bed to see Eric watching him from the doorway of their temporary room, a coy spark in his eyes that got his attention.

"On a scale of one-to-ten," Eric asked, "how much do you love me?"

He set the book down warily. "The numerical value of my love for you depends entirely on what this is about."

The coyness went up a level. "Dr. Carson cleared me for 'strenuous activity'."

The book went forgotten, and he pat the bed beside him.

"Twenty."

There wasn't nearly as much immediate stripping as Aaron would have preferred.

Eric lingered by the door. "I want to have sex in that flower garden they have."

Oh, in that case, he amended his answer to, "One."

He hated outdoor sex. Dirt crawled in weird places. He had to be militant about bugs or have his orgasm interrupted by a voyeuristic beetle.

"Half the camp is gone either scavenging or making a delivery. I found a closed in spot under a tree. There are roses, Aaron. Actual roses. It's so pretty." He watched him doubtfully and tried, "Please?"

The end of the world had taught Aaron a lot of things, but he still wasn't any good at saying no to Eric when he asked for something with big eyes and his lips curved to the side.

He forgot why he wanted to say no when they were stretched out on a blanket in the garden, Eric moaning beneath him, and blades of grass breaking between his fingers where he gripped the ground in his fists and kissed him under the shade of the tree. His fingers traced featherlight over his leg, bracing him, holding him, keeping him close. He touched him and forgot, just for a while, how he screamed in that basement.

****

The first time he saw Eric run without a hitch in his gait or a wince on his face, he felt so relieved he had to laugh, standing across the field all by himself. Maggie gave him a look as she was walking by and stopped to inquire, "What?"

"He can run."

She looked over where Eric and a small group were looking around a pail of freshly plucked fruit.

"Eric?"

"You have to be able to run now."

Maggie looked back at Eric, peeling an orange and nodding along to something Sasha was telling him.

"It's not a guarantee," she said, because she was a realist now. Because you had to run to survive, but more than anything, you had to understand. There were no guarantees anymore, if there ever were. Life didn't work that way.

"It's a chance." That was all any of them had when it came down to it, an opportunity to keep living. Some seized that opportunity better than others.

Eric jogged over and handed Maggie an apple. She was starting to show. Eric had taken to sneaking her extra cookies whenever Gregory had him cook up a batch.

"Thank you, Eric." Maggie smiled and touched Aaron's shoulder, passing him a meaningful look as she continued walking.

"What was that about?" Eric asked.

Half his orange was gone, so when he kissed him, he tasted like citrus. It would be a long time before Aaron stopped associating the taste of orange with the feeling of relief.

"Nothing."

Eric raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm better than okay," Eric corrected. "I have oranges. Who needs a house or a full closet of clothes or cherished personal belongings when there are oranges?"

"Not me," Aaron agreed.

He kissed the citrus from his lips to prove it.

**Author's Note:**

> Random and OT, but I spotted Eric on Nashville this week. That was a nice surprise. :)


End file.
